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gr5

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  1. gr5's post in Problems with the Ultimaker s3 Material was marked as the answer   
    Did you change the printing speed or layer height?  If you increase the layer height you should probably decrease the printing speed by the same amount.
     
    I doubt the retraction speed is the issue.  You can probably go to infinite speed and the printer firmware should limit the speed to a safe amount.
     
    There may be too many retractions.  Are you printing something with hundreds of small islands on the layer that fails?
     
    More likely you increased the layer height without slowing down the speeds.
     
    Type "speed" in the settings search bar and it will show you the 7 or so printing speeds.  I prefer to print with the same speed for infill, inner, outer shell, top and bottom.  So I would put the speeds back to default, then lower the fastest speed (usually infill) by 33% (assuming you increased layer height by about 33%: 0.2 to 0.28mm).  Make sure all the speeds are below that speed.  You don't have to lower all the speeds, just the ones over that limit (the limit of fastest speed X 0.2 / 0.28). 
     
    Or set all the speeds to your current outer shell speed (and also make sure they are all below that stated speed limit I mentioned).
     
  2. gr5's post in Cura 5.3.1: slicing issue with very small part of .stl model was marked as the answer   
    light and dark blue lines are TRAVEL MOVES.  As opposed to EXTRUDING MOVES.
     
    You need to understand what those two terms mean.  Extruding moves means plastic comes out.  Travel moves are mandatory.  You can't get the print head from place A to place B without moving the print head.  Travel moves should not create strings but sometimes they do.
     
    red, yellow, green, teal lines on the screen represent PLASTIC.  blue lines represent movements (no plastic).
     
    Are you following me?
     
    In general DARK BLUE = BAD (in that some plastic will leak out.
    LIGHT BLUE = GOOD (no plastic comes out - hopefully)
     
    If you understand nothing else, know that dark blue moves *might* create strings.  Light blue moves should not.  Sometimes they do anyway but that is a hardware issue, not a cura issue.
     
     
  3. gr5's post in Ultimaker S5 takes 18 minutes to start print was marked as the answer   
    It might be normal, yes.
     
    So before it prints it has to do active leveling and for that it can't have solid filament on the nozzle so it heats the bed and the nozzle to prevent any filament from throwing off the leveling adjustment - even 0.1mm of error would be bad.
     
    So look in cura at the bed temp as the bed takes the longest to heat up.  If you are printing say ABS then you probably want around 110C bed temp and that can indeed take 15 minutes when you include heating up the nozzles also.  But if you are printing PLA than it should only take, I'd guess, 5 minutes before it starts leveling.
     
    As far as 15 minutes to abort, that can be avoided.   For safety reasons (which I disagree with), it waits for the bed to get below the safety temp before allowing you to print again.  I hate this feature.  You can disable it with this tool (ultituner):
     
    https://community.ultimaker.com/topic/39188-ultituner-a-tool-to-tweak-your-printer/
     
    I remember putting a towel on the bed after an abort so I could keep the bed hot to quickly restart the print.  Well this slowed down things even more!  I was quite mad.  It was not obvious that it was trying to cool down.
     
    Also you can go into the second menu on the left and click on bed and in top right click "..." and then something like "set bed temp" and then you can see the current temp of the heated bed and if it is going up or down (which provides hints).  Similary you can check the temps of the nozzles.
     
    After a print there is also a short delay (maybe 20 seconds) to do a semi-cold pull to avoid tiny strings in the bowden jamming the filament which is a very good feature.  But waiting for the bed to cool?  No way.  Absolutely hate that feature with a passion.
     
     
  4. gr5's post in Issue between decoupler and feeder was marked as the answer   
    ooh!  I just found this: https://www.ultimakernasupport.com/hc/en-us/articles/6426059583899-Clearing-the-Mergers
     
  5. gr5's post in A surface is added to my .stl file when slicing, even when neither supports nor adhesion are enabled. was marked as the answer   
    Greg described backwards normals which is different from missing faces.  Most CAD software takes care of this automatically but blender is for photos and movies, not for making real life parts so it lets you do things that are impossible to print.  Anyway here is a nice blender article about what the issues are and how to fix them in blender.
     
    https://www.sculpteo.com/en/tutorial/prepare-your-model-3d-printing-blender/
     
    Read the sections 3.1 - 3.6 and search for "recalculate" to fix inverted faces (aka backwards normals).
  6. gr5's post in Nozzle heating issue was marked as the answer   
    .6mm layer height X 0.8mm line width X 60mm/sec results in 29 cubic mm per second.  Thats... a lot.  Oh!! And it's ABS.  So yeah there is no way with the standard 25 Watt heater.  So, um, good news?  Nothing is broken.
     
    You can get a 50 watt heater from 3dsolex.com if you want to print that much volume.  I used to sell them.  I actually might have one...
     
    Nope.  I don't have any left (I've been shutting down my store slowly).
     
    But 3dsolex sells very good quality heaters.  35W, 40W, and 50W.  At least they used to have all 3 wattages.  Not sure what their current selection is.
     
    You'll also want to change the PID a bit for the 50W heater.  You don't absolutely have to but I recommend it.  I have PID values if you want them.  I've probably also posted them for various wattage heaters.
     
     
  7. gr5's post in Ultimaker S7 Flexiplate Bending during the print was marked as the answer   
    I'd try these things (see picture) on the 4 corners.
     
    Did it warp any less at 100C versus 40C?  The doors were closed, right?   You want it the air 1cm above the plate also as warm as possible.
     
    So I asked some 3d printing expert friends about this topic and one of them mentioned that they've seen warping parts shatter the glass beds as well in rare cases.
     
    The good news is that none of the parts in the center are coming off the plate.  So I think these binder clips alone will solve your problem.
     

  8. gr5's post in Ultimaker S7 Touch Screen not responding to the touch was marked as the answer   
    First try touching above below left right of the button.  Sometimes touch screens get the location out of calibration a bit.
     
    Then contact your reseller.  They can sell you a new panel (assuming it's the panel).  If your printer is still under warranty then it should be free.
  9. gr5's post in Ultimaker 2: X-Axis Motor moves right when trying to move either direction was marked as the answer   
    You can definitely use the E2 connector.  First check the wiring.  If only 3 of the 4 wires are connected to the servo then sometimes it will move but weakly and sometimes only one direction.
     
    There is a direction pin that goes from the "arduino" chip to the servo driver but it's unlikely that this pin is stuck.  More likely the driver.
     
    Before trying to use the E2 connector, check if there is even a servo driver for it.  The newer PCBs don't even have the servo driver installed to save some money.  The older UM2 printers have it but the newer ones not.  It's easy to spot.  It's a big square chip and there is one for each servo connector and they are kind of lined up.  XYZEE.  5 connectors.  5 chips.
     
    Yes you can recompile the firmware.  The easy part is looking up the E2 pin numbers and modifying the X pins to be equal to what the E2 pins are.  I think it's pins.h.  The harder part is recompiling the code.  I have a post about this.  While you are doing all this, use the tinkergnome fork of the firmware as it's much better firmware in my opinion.  Instructions:
     
  10. gr5's post in Help with bottom layers. was marked as the answer   
    This is called underextrusion and has many many causes but for the bottom layer only, the most common cause by far (95% of the time) is that you have bad leveling.  In otherwords you want the nozzle and bed closer together.  You can prove this by pushing up on the bed while it prints this layer.
     
    You can do the calibration again but I recommend you practice a new trick.  When it's printing the brim, and it's underextruding you want the bed to go up closer to the nozzle so you think about this (don't panic - it's confusing at first) and rotate the 3 screws counter clockwise (as seen from below) equal amounts. It's important to do equal amounts as the bed is hopefully already level.  If one side has more underextrusion than another then you can just raise that screw but that's even more confusing as the 2 corner screws move that corner one way and the opposite corner the other way.
     
    The first 10 times you do this it will be hard and you might not finish before it gets to the print and you'll have to restart.  After doing this for every print (even if it doesn't need it - just for practice) for a while it will come naturally and you'll always automatically turn the screws the right way.
     
    But in order for it to become automatic you can't just turn a random way and see what happens.  You need to always turn it the correct way to get that into muscle memory.  Which means you have to slow down and think... which way do I want to move the bed... okay which way does that mean I turn the screws.  If you calculate that part wrong you will learn the wrong muscle memory.
     
    If I'm wrong and it's not your leveling, then it will underextrude on every layer, not just the first.
  11. gr5's post in Where did the analytics page go? was marked as the answer   
    They said something about lowering the load on the cpu. I'm not being flippant - I just don't trust my memory completely.  Anyway these firmware guys may be slow but they seem to be quite honest and care about the customers even if it doesn't feel like it to you (sorry!). 
     
    A few people are upset about this and other missing features and I recommend you downgrade your firmware - especially if you don't have the air manager nor the material station.  The process is not trivial (you have to do a "firmware recovery") but if you use the analytics page then it's almost certainly worth doing.
  12. gr5's post in Alimentador UMS5 en Ultimaker S3 Extended was marked as the answer   
    Si realmente tiene el UM3, entonces podría considerar buscar extrusores DDG de bondtech. Debe cambiar ambos alimentadores si lo hace porque los pasos/mm deben ser idénticos para ambos alimentadores.
  13. gr5's post in S5 belt not tightening was marked as the answer   
    I'm asking if the pulley was able to spin on the shaft when you *loosened* it.  My first guess is that you didn't loosen the pulley enough and it didn't spin to balance the tightness of the belt.  This is issue #1.
     
    Issue #2 is repairing that pulley.  Well maybe you can leave it as is and loosen the other pulley on the same belt.  It doesn't matter which pulley you loosen.  Just be much more careful this time to not strip the set screw.  Push the print head around until the set screw is most easily accessed with the hex driver.  Insert fully and as perpendicular as possible.  It takes quite a bit of force to loosen and you want to use even more force to tighten later on.
     
    Make damn sure the pulley spins freely on the shaft and that you can get good tension.  If not then and only then should you buy that from dynamism but now realize you need to probably loosen both pulleys to get the old belt off and the new one on.  I'm not certain.  You might be able to do it with one pulley still connected to the rod.
     
    I should warn you that most people do NOT tighten the set screws enough later.  Everything seems fine but they go to print and the pulley slips a bit on the shaft and each layer is printed with a bit of offset.  So if you have this issue then you didn't tighten the set screws enough.
     
    If it turns out you need to get that pulley off then you should by a screw extractor.  Google it.  They are reverse threaded drilling bits that drill into the center of the screw in CCW direction and eventually get a good "bite" and pull the set screw right out.  You'll need to replace it with a new set screw.
  14. gr5's post in Is Vase Mode bugged= was marked as the answer   
    The mesh plugin isn't great at fixing meshes.  You could try meshlab.  It's free.
     
    I think there are some free web services that do it as well.
     
    Or you could ask the original designer to replace any missing surfaces.
  15. gr5's post in Unable to add profile was marked as the answer   
    I don't know the answer but every need to save and load profiles can be solved by saving and loading projects so I recommend you try that.  At least for a workaround and possibly for a permanent solution.  I stopped using profiles and started using projects years ago and I am so happy I did.
     
    Have the other person go to "file" "save profile as" and save the profile and then have them send you the result.  Load that file up in your version of cura and you are all set.
     
    This will save printer customizations in addition to the profile, and settings changes from the profile, filament customizations and also if there is a part loaded it will save the part or parts, the orientation, position, and scaling.  And much more.  Basically everything is saved.
     
    I don't know why but in my experience project files are more dependable and less buggy than profiles.
     
    You do need to have the same or newer version of Cura but you already took care of that issue.
     
    Everytime I save a gcode file (or ufp etc) I also save the project file.  Every time.  there is a 1 to 1 relationship. So then days, months, years later I can load up the project file and see exactly what every setting was and I can look at the model and so on.  So when I slice something new I usually pick a project file to start with.
  16. gr5's post in Unable to add profile was marked as the answer   
    I don't know the answer but every need to save and load profiles can be solved by saving and loading projects so I recommend you try that.  At least for a workaround and possibly for a permanent solution.  I stopped using profiles and started using projects years ago and I am so happy I did.
     
    Have the other person go to "file" "save profile as" and save the profile and then have them send you the result.  Load that file up in your version of cura and you are all set.
     
    This will save printer customizations in addition to the profile, and settings changes from the profile, filament customizations and also if there is a part loaded it will save the part or parts, the orientation, position, and scaling.  And much more.  Basically everything is saved.
     
    I don't know why but in my experience project files are more dependable and less buggy than profiles.
     
    You do need to have the same or newer version of Cura but you already took care of that issue.
     
    Everytime I save a gcode file (or ufp etc) I also save the project file.  Every time.  there is a 1 to 1 relationship. So then days, months, years later I can load up the project file and see exactly what every setting was and I can look at the model and so on.  So when I slice something new I usually pick a project file to start with.
  17. gr5's post in 5.3 and 5.3.1 not allowing me to slice large print jobs was marked as the answer   
    I am told that the latest version (5.3.1? not sure) can get stuck when slicing - the bar moves across steadily and then stops.
     
    I am told that this is a know bug and has a high priority to be fixed.
     
    Also I hear that it is related to support structures (I rarely use support but it's critical when I do need it!) and that sometimes rotating the part on the plate by a tiny amount can "randomly" make the issue go away.
  18. gr5's post in Slicing a Assembly as an individual component in Cura was marked as the answer   
    Export both models as STL files.  In cura go to menu item "preferences", "Configure Cura..." and uncheck "ensure models are kept apart".  It might be okay to leave that checked but I suspect not.
     
    After the models are both in Cura they should be "on top" of each other.  Then select both models (shift click or maybe ctrl click until both are selected) then right click and I think possibly you have to goup them or something - I don't do it often enough to remember.  There's an explanation of how to do this in many youtube videos I'm sure).
     
    They should be lined up the way they were in CAD if you group them correctly.
     
    Then I think you are done.  It will treat them like 2 separate models printed with the same filament and extruder (unless you right click one of the models and assign it to something else).  On one of the models you can have it get different settings (for example no outer walls and or no top layers aka "skin").  I forget how to do that as well.  "per model settings" maybe?
     
     
  19. gr5's post in Firmware doesn't want to update to newest version was marked as the answer   
    Another way to look at it: if ultimaker says "you should really update your firmware on your 5 year old printer" is another way of saying "our printer has really sucked for the last 5 years but now, finally, with the new firmware, the printer is a useful machine".
     
    I totally disagree. The printer has been great the whole time.
  20. gr5's post in use of carbon fiber filaments was marked as the answer   
    S5 is fantastic with GF and CF filaments.  You need a ruby nozzle such as the "CC 0.6" print core.  Regular nozzles will wear down in just a few hours of printing.
     
    Avoid ABS if at all possible.  The fumes are nasty and the parts tend to have "grain".  In other words they tend to be quite weak.  I really like xstrand GF30 with glass fibers (fiberglass).  Seems better than carbon to me.  There are many good CF filaments as well.  Realize that the carbon is chopped up into tiny pieces so the strength and stiffness increases are small.  But definitely real.  GF30 is I think 30% glass fibers.  I've been very happy with their PA6 GF30 (pa6 is nylon) but xstrand also has PC (polycaronate) and PP with GF30.
     
    Nylon needs to be extremely dry and I recommend spending 8 hours drying the filament first.  Even brand new filament tends to be too wet to print.  Unspool enough for your print and put on the print bed with the spool on top and a towel on top of that.  Heat to around 70C for around 8 hours just before you print.  After 8 hours of printing on the back of the printer it's wet again.  Store with a few cups of desiccant and recharge the desiccant every month.  In other words nylon is tricky but once you get it down it's a great marerial.  I usually print Nylon out of a zip lock with desiccant in the zip lock (for prints longer than an hour).
     
    PP is really hard to get to stick to the bed.  Get the special printing kit from ultimaker that includes adhesion sheets.  These really suck as they tend to rip when you remove parts.  They really suck.  But are necessary for PP or alternatively get Magigoo for PP.
     
    PC isn't exactly easy either.  There is no easy filament that will get you good results with GF or CF filametns.
     
    Another trick is to buy carbon fiber rods and pause your print when there are places to insert the rods, usually towards outside edges of the part.
     
    Pay attention to working temperatures as many of the nicest plastics to work with will melt at temps below 100C.  Nylon gets pretty soft at 100C but will not melt so it may be fine even at 100C if it has fibers.
     
    PLA gets soft at 52C.  nGen, cpe, petg typically about 10 or 20C hotter than that.  ABS right at 99C.  Nylon gets very rubbery above 110C.
     
    It really takes 100 prints to get good at a new material and it can be a painful process.  Especially if you don't ask lots of questions or ignore advice.  Nylon is a very rewarding material once you get good at it.  Both regular and filled.
  21. gr5's post in Filament stuck in the core was marked as the answer   
    This happened to me once or twice.  But it stuck above the top of the print head so after I sliced it the top half was trivial to remove.
     
    So I'd try pushing it town through.  Go to the middle menu on the left and click the top right where it says "PVA" (or alternatively the middle right where it says "BB 0.4".  Then in top right corner click "..." and select "MOVE" (or temp if you had selected BB 0.4).  This should heat it up to melting temp.
     
    Then cut a hand's length of pva and push down in from the top to push the the PVA into the core and out the nozzle. Do this until you think you got it all pushed out.  Then this is an opportunity for a cold pull.
     
    Turn the heat off and continue to apply gentle pressure from above until it stops oozing out the nozzle.  Wait until the temp is about 100C and pull firmly upwards (to avoid bending the rods move the head in any of 4 corners).  If the printer lifts off the table and it's still not pulling out, raise the temp by 10 or 20C, pulling at the same time.  A perfect cold pull will end up with the tip of the filament in the exact shape of the inside of the nozzle including the .4mm tip.
     
    I don't know the "cold" temp for PVA.  I just don't remember.  I done cold pulls with PVA but I have since forgotten the temp.
  22. gr5's post in does ultimaker s7 / cura have print recovery? was marked as the answer   
    Not really.  Because of active leveling.  Which probes the bed in a one or two dozen places.  I know - it sucks.
     
    But you can probably get the print time down by 2X by using a larger nozzle, thicker layer height, variable infill, reducing support amounts, redesigning the part, etc.
  23. gr5's post in force printing of long straight lines was marked as the answer   
    Yes!  You should use the G92 command very heavily.  G92 resets any axis (in this case extruder or E) to any value where you say, "I know you think you have extruded 1.5mm of filament so far this print and you think you are at E position 1.5 but you are wrong - you are actually at this new position.  Right now.".
     
    So once you calculate the needed filament for one line, use G92 for two purposes - at the start of each line do G92 E0 and then you can put the extrusion amount in the line so all the extruding gcodes will have the same E value.  Simple.
     
    Also after you finish the grid - set the E value to where the printer expected in the original gcode.  So if the deleted code ended at position E73.1247 then you can do an G92 E73.1247 at the end of your grid code so the printer extrudes the correct amount going forwards.
  24. gr5's post in Help upgrading was marked as the answer   
    Sometimes they are saved and sometimes not.  3.2.1 is an excellent version of cura so you might want to just stick with that unless you need some new feature.  I strongly advise going forward to save your projects.  Whenever you save anything to a gcode file, also do "file" "save..." and that will create a project file.  I have found these much more dependable than profiles.  They save everything - the model (stl), the printer settings, the profile, and the settings (overrides to the profile).  Also they save the rotation and position of all the parts that went into the gcode file.
     
    Anyway the point is, I don't save profiles - I save project files and when I print something similar I open a project file and it loads EVERYTHING.  Even the printer settings.  Perfectly.  Even across versions.
  25. gr5's post in Metal heat bed bent? was marked as the answer   
    I would just bend it back but CAUTION! there is a printed circuit board heater on the other side and it is somewhat delicate and if you bend the metal plate too much you can add a crack to the heater and it will no longer heat up.
     
    I have personally bent the rear corners on purpose to make things flatter (to compensate for slightly thicker glass in the center) and I was lucky that I did not damage the heater.  The heater will either work or not so it's not like you have to recalibrate the heater.  Either you will break it and it will no longer heat up at all or it will be fine.
     
    Those clips should be squeezed with some pliers to have a slightly smaller gap than the width of the glass.
     
    When removing the glass do not lift the front edge up any more than necessary to slide the glass out.  Many people lift the front edge of the glass much too far and that pries the rear clips open.  Which is bad.
     
    The stiffness of the glass is similar to the stiffness of the bed for the first 1mm or so of bending.  Meaning the two surfaces (flat glass, bent metal bed) will end up somewhere in the middle when attached together.
     
    I disagree with Dustin and think the rear screw has nothing to do with it.  I could certainly be wrong.
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